Farmer to Farmer with Chris Blanchard
183 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 5 years ago - ★★★★★ - 327 ratingsThe organic and sustainable farming movement has its roots in sharing information about production techniques, marketing, and the rewards and challenges of the farming life. Join veteran farmer, consultant, and farm educator Chris Blanchard for down-to-earth conversations with experienced farmers - and the occasional non-farmer - about everything from soil fertility and record-keeping to getting your crops to market without making yourself crazy.
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Episodes
130: Chad Wasserman of Chad’s Organics on His Solo Operation in Hawaii, No-Till Farming under Cover, and Making Vermicompost for His Farm
August 03, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 131 MBChad Wasserman owns and operates Chad’s Organics in Hilo, Hawaii, on the west side of Hawaii’s Big Island. After farming up to an acre outdoors, Chad recently moved his entire farm indoors, focusing on 5,000 square feet of production under plastic to provide himself with a living from the herbs and vegetables that he markets to stores, restaurants, and a very small CSA. With over eighty inches of rain each year and no frost – or even cool weather! – to kill off or slow down pests and disea...
129: Chris Jagger of Blue Fox Farm on Scaling Up, Scaling Down, and Where Organic and Local Farming is Going from Here
July 27, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 111 MBChris Jagger is the owner and operator of Blue Fox Farm, an organic vegetable farm in the Applegate Valley of southern Oregon. He is also the owner and head consultant for Blue Fox Agricultural Services, a full-service agricultural supply and consultation company focusing on ecological solutions for the modern farmer. Both his farm and his agricultural services use living soils as a foundation to scale farming operations efficiently and profitably. We discuss the changes Chris has seen in ...
128: John Stoddard and Lindsay Allen of Higher Ground Farm on the Journey from Idealism to Practicality on a Rooftop Farm
July 20, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 110 MBJohn Stoddard and Lindsay Allen work together at Higher Ground Farm, a rooftop farming operation with two locations in Boston. John is the founder of the business and operator of the site at the Boston Design Center, and Lindsay runs the new site at the Boston Medical Center. Higher Ground sells to restaurants and direct to consumers, and provides produce the Boston Medical Center cafeteria, patient food service, and a preventative food pantry. We dig into the fundamentals of rooftop farmi...
127: Brendan Grant of Sleepy G Farm Digs into Thinking Bigger, Surviving Crises, and Farming Organically in Northwest Ontario
July 13, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 121 MBBrendan Grant raises six acres of vegetables plus laying hens, Highland cattle, and a hundred acres of hay with his wife, Marcelle Paulin, at Sleepy G Farm, just east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Superior. The only certified organic farm for 500 miles around in Canada, Sleepy G’s produce is marketed through a 150-member CSA, grocery stores, a farmers market, and a small on-farm store. Brendan shares his techniques for bringing new land into production, and delves int...
127: Brendan Grant of Sleepy G Farm Digs into Thinking Bigger, Surviving Crises, and Farming Organically in Northwest Ontario
July 13, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 121 MBBrendan Grant raises six acres of vegetables plus laying hens, Highland cattle, and a hundred acres of hay with his wife, Marcelle Paulin, at Sleepy G Farm, just east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Superior. The only certified organic farm for 500 miles around in Canada, Sleepy G’s produce is marketed through a 150-member CSA, grocery stores, a farmers market, and a small on-farm store. Brendan shares his techniques for bringing new land into production, and delves int...
126: Ray Tyler of Rose Creek Farms on Farming in the South and the Journey from Failing as Farmers to Loving Life
July 06, 2017 11:00 - 1 hour - 131 MBRay Tyler raises about an acre of salad greens at Rose Creek Farms in Selmer, Tennessee, about two hours east of Memphis and three hours west of Nashville. He farms with his wife, Ashley, and his five children, as well as employees. Produce is sold at farmers market, through a CSA, and to grocery stores in Memphis. Ray tells the story of his farm from its start as a mixed vegetable and livestock operation in 2010 to its current focus on specialty salad greens, baby root vegetables, and tom...
126: Ray Tyler of Rose Creek Farms on Farming in the South and the Journey from Failing as Farmers to Loving Life
July 06, 2017 11:00Ray Tyler raises about an acre of salad greens at Rose Creek Farms in Selmer, Tennessee, about two hours east of Memphis and three hours west of Nashville. He farms with his wife, Ashley, and his five children, as well as employees. Produce is sold at farmers market, through a CSA, and to grocery stores in Memphis. Ray tells the story of his farm from its start as a mixed vegetable and livestock operation in 2010 to its current focus on specialty salad greens, baby root vegetables, and tom...
125: Eduardo Rivera of Sin Fronteras Farm & Food on Bootstrapping a Farm Business and Farming while Latino
June 29, 2017 11:00 - 1 hour - 105 MBLess than one percent of the people farming in Minnesota are Latino, and Eduardo Rivera is one of them. His operation, Sin Fronteras Farm & Food, specializes in producing fresh, healthy, Latino food for restaurants, grocery stores, and a 40-member CSA marketed to the Latino community in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Eduardo started farming with his infant daughter on his back on a quarter acre of rented ground near Stillwater. The farm has grown to three acres of production, still on rented gro...
124: Chris Field of Campo Rosso Farm on the Bittersweet Life of Growing Specialty Chicory Farming
June 22, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 114 MBChris Field farms fourteen acres of ground with his partner, Jessi Okamoto, at Campo Rosso Farm in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. Camp Rosso Farm is what happens when two New York foodies decide to start a farm. Chis and Jessi grow a wide variety of very high quality Italian chicories – radicchios, endives, and more – as the cornerstone of their operation, and market through New York City’s Union Square Green Market and wholesale to restaurants in New York City. We dig into how Chris and Jes...
123: Jess and Brian Powers of Working Hands Farm on the Tools and Processes that Have Supported Phenomenal Growth
June 15, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 135 MBIn this episode, we revisit Jess and Brian Powers at Working Hands Farm, eighteen months after they were first on the show on Episode 040. Since the fall of 2015, Working Hands Farm has gone through some significant changes and phenomenal growth on their property in Hillsboro, Oregon, just outside of Portland on the north end of the Willamette Valley. Jess and Brian have gone from raising four acres of vegetables in 2015 to eight acres now, and have expanded their on-farm CSA to cover 48 w...
122: Danny Percich of Full Plate Farm on Winter Farming in the Pacific Northwest and Taking it Easy
June 08, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 121 MBDanny Percich raises vegetables at Full Plate Farm in Ridgefield, Washington, for a ninety-member winter-only CSA. With three acres of mostly-outdoors production, Danny has decided to focus on an underserved niche in the marketplace, enabling him to make a living on a small acreage. We get muddy discussing the challenges of winter production in a climate where it rains all winter. Danny gives us the low-down on how they manage deer predation and vole populations, as well as how he dresses ...
121: Melanie and Kevin Cunningham of Shakefork Community Farm on Using Oxen and Dreaming Big on a Diverse Vegetable and Livestock Farm
June 01, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 101 MBMelanie and Kevin Cunningham own and operate Shakefork Community Farm in Humboldt County, California, where they raise five acres of vegetables and a diversity of livestock, including broilers, egg-layers, pigs, and sheep.. And they do it with oxen – as well as with four-wheeled and two-wheeled tractors. Since their start in 2008, the farm has evolved from an emphasis on small grains to a focus on vegetables and livestock, which they sell through their 120-member CSA and three farmers market...
120: Polly Shyka and Prentice Grassi of Villageside Farm on Five Acres, Cover Crops, and Building Human Skills to Support Their Farm and Family
May 25, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 107 MBPolly Shyka and Prentice Grassi raise five acres of vegetables and five acres of cover crops, plus broiler chickens, egg layers, and beef cattle, at Villageside Farm in Freedom, Maine. Polly and Prentice have been involved in farming for twenty years, and have been farming their land since 2001. Making a living for both of them on $200,000 in sales, they have worked hard to build a farm business that is an asset to their community. We talk about the challenges of farming at the five-acre s...
119: Jeff and Zach Hawkins of Hawkins Family Farm on Managing Pastured Livestock and Vegetables as a Father-Son Team
May 18, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 116 MBFather and son team Jeff and Zach Hawkins raise two acres of vegetables, 20 acres of grain, and a variety of livestock on 60 additional acres of pasture at the J.L. Hawkins Family Farm outside of North Manchester, Indiana. About half of their sales go through a CSA, with the remained going through farmers markets and local restaurants, as well as an on-farm pizza night. Jeff shares the story of how the farm was started by his grandparents in the mid-1950s, and how he came back and then cha...
118: Danya Teitelbaum of Queen’s Greens on Selling a Selective Crop Mix on the Wholesale Market
May 11, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 107 MBDanya Tietelbaum is the co-founder and co-owner of Queen’s Greens, 35 acres of fields and greenhouses in the heart of the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts. Queen’s Greens’ specialty is what they call “boutique wholesale”, supplying restaurants, retailers, local universities, and regional distributors, with certified organic greens, herbs, and a small selection of other vegetables. Danya digs into why they’ve limited their crop mix and marketing outlets, and the implications that’s had for t...
117: Jason Weston of Joe’s Gardens on Two-Wheel Tractor Cultivation, the End of Hand Weeding, and Farming for 120 Years
May 04, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 114 MBJason Weston is a co-owner of Joe’s Gardens in Bellingham, Washington, a five-acre urban farm started in the 1890s. One of the last of the original truck farms in the Bellingham area, Joe’s Gardens sells almost all of its produce retail on site. Jason has become well-known for his innovations with the Planet Junior two-wheeled cultivating tractors that he uses for weed control on his farm, and he provides an introductory tutorial into their features and uses, and how they changed everythin...
116: Dan Guenthner of Common Harvest Farm on Gumption, Community, CSA, and One Red Wheelbarrow
April 27, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 122 MBDan Guenthner of Common Harvest Farm, along with his wife Margaret Pennings, has been a CSA farmer since before CSA was even really a thing – 1990, to be exact. With twelve acres of vegetables and a 200-member CSA in Osceola, Wisconsin, just outside of Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Dan and Margaret take a thoughtful approach to how they engage with their CSA membership, the farming community, and their farm’s land and production systems. Dan reflects on the CSA movement, and how it has grown an...
115: Susan and Harley Soltes of Bow Hill Blueberries on Organic Berry Production and Adding Value to Products, Farm, and People
April 20, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 108 MBSusan and Harley Soltes of Bow Hill Blueberries raise five acres of high-bush blueberries on the northern edge of the Skagit River Valley in western Washington. Susan and Harley bought the oldest blueberry farm in Skagit County in 2011, transitioned the farm to organic, and launched a new line of value-added products along with their fresh and frozen berries. Harley shares the details of organic blueberry production, from weed control and management of mummy berry and spotted wing drosophi...
114: Janaki Fisher-Merritt of Food Farm on Root Cellars and Rooting in Community in the Far North
April 13, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 127 MBJanaki Fisher-Merritt owns Food Farm with his wife, Annie Dugan, and operates it with his parents, John and Jane Fisher-Merritt, and long-time employee Dave Hanlon. Located in Wrenshall, Minnesota, 25 miles southwest of Duluth, Food Farm raises about thirteen acres of vegetables, and sells them over an extended season by storing crops in their high-tech root cellar. In 2010, they were selected as the Organic Farmers of the Year by the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service. Food...
113: Josh Slotnick of Clark Fork Organics and Garden City Harvest on Salad Greens, Short Seasons, and Food as Fuel for a Social Ecology
April 06, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 115 MBJosh Slotnick has farmed at Clark Fork Organics on the outskirts of Missoula, Montana, with his wife, Kim Murchison, since 1992. With about eight acres in vegetables and eleven acres of total crop ground, Clark Fork Organics is a pillar in the Missoula local foods community, and is well-known for their salad greens. They sell at two farmers market, through a local health food store, and to restaurants in the community. In 1996, Josh and a few others founded Garden City Harvest, a non-profi...
112: Landis and Steven Spickerman on Creating a Farm from a Homestead in Far Northern Wisconsin
March 30, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 119 MBLandis and Steven Spickerman own and operate Hermit Creek Farm 15 miles south of Lake Superior in far northern Wisconsin – a challenging place to farm, with lots of woods and a lot of water. With about ten acres in vegetables and another six in cover crop, Landis and Steven sell their produce through a combination of wholesale and a 200-member CSA. We discuss their long, slow, roundabout journey through homesteading and small-scale production to having Landis full-time on the farm. Landis ...
111: Rashid Nuri on Using Urban Agriculture as a Lever to Enrich Lives and Build Communities
March 23, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 109 MBRashid Nuri is the founder and CEO of Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture in Atlanta, Georgia. With four farm sites in Metro Atlanta, Truly Living Well is a leader in demonstrating urban agriculture as a sustainable solution for helping people to eat better and live better. Rashid shares his journey through the conventional agricultural system, including time spent working for Cargill and as a Clinton appointee to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to becoming an organ...
110: Jean-Paul Courtens on Creating Soils and Farmers at Roxbury Farm and the Hudson Valley Farm Hub
March 16, 2017 08:30 - 1 hour - 116 MBJean-Paul Courtens is most famous for being the founder and owner of Roxbury Farm in New York’s Hudson Valley. He operated Roxbury Farm with his farming partner, Jody Bolluyt, from 1990 through about 2015, when he started work with the Hudson Valley Farm Hub to create and then to run a professional farmer training program, where he is now the Associate Director for Farm Training. Roxbury Farm is a 245-acre integrated farming operation, with a hundred acres dedicated to vegetable production...
109: Andrew Mefferd of One Drop Farm and Growing for Market on Protected Culture and Plant Husbandry in the High Tunnel and Greenhouse
March 09, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 129 MBAndrew Mefferd farms at One Drop Farm in Cornville, Maine, with his wife, Ann, where they sell produce and transplants at farmers market, to a multiple farm CSA, and to local restaurants and food stores. Andrew is also the editor and publisher of Growing for Market, having taken over that business from Lynn Byczynski last year – the magazine’s 25th year in publication. Andrew is also the author of The Greenhouse and Hoophouse Grower’s Handbook, a fantastic new guide to growing things in pr...
108: Michael Phillips of Lost Nation Orchard Provides a Primer on Using Mycorrhizal Fungi in the Field and Orchard
March 02, 2017 09:30Michael Phillips raises about three acres of fruit trees at Lost Nation Orchard in extreme northern New Hampshire. And while that’s pretty cool, and while Michael is well known for his books on organic orcharding, today we dig into the subject of his new book, Mycorrhizal Planet. Michael started his orchard on imperfect apple ground, something that forced him – or gave him the opportunity – to figure out what he needed to do to make his apple trees tick. And that led him to the fungal rela...
108: Michael Phillips of Lost Nation Orchard Provides a Primer on Using Mycorrhizal Fungi in the Field and Orchard
March 02, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 113 MBMichael Phillips raises about three acres of fruit trees at Lost Nation Orchard in extreme northern New Hampshire. And while that’s pretty cool, and while Michael is well known for his books on organic orcharding, today we dig into the subject of his new book, Mycorrhizal Planet. Michael started his orchard on imperfect apple ground, something that forced him – or gave him the opportunity – to figure out what he needed to do to make his apple trees tick. And that led him to the fungal rela...
107: Hans and Katie Bishop of PrairiErth Farm on Connecting with Customers and Bringing a Spouse into the Farming Operation
February 23, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 115 MBHans and Katie Bishop raise fifteen acres of certified organic vegetables at PrairiErth Farm in central Illinois, marketing about $250,000 worth of produce through a farmers market, CSA, and wholesale outlets. With about fifty percent of their sales going through one farmers market in a mid-sized city, Katie and Hans had a lot to say about how they make that work, from the details of their display and market stand setup, their digital checkout system and the value its data brings to their ...
106: Josh Volk of Slow Hand Farm on Compact Farms and Part-Time Farming
February 16, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 122 MBJosh Volk is, most recently, the author of Compact Farms, a new, illustrated guide for anyone dreaming of starting, expanding, or perfecting a profitable farm enterprise on five acres or less. Compact Farms includes in-depth interviews with fifteen small farms about the systems and tools that make them tick. With over twenty years of experience working on and managing small farms around the country, Josh currently works part time at Cully Neighborhood Farm in Portland, Oregon, as well as pro...
105: Mimo Davis and Miranda Duschak of Urban Bud Flowers on Balancing Off-Farm Jobs While Growing a Farming Business, Season Extension, and Growing for the Wedding Market
February 09, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 104 MBMimo Davis and Miranda Duschack farm at Urban Buds City Grown Flowers, an acre of flowers in a working class neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. Urban Buds is located on property that was an operating flower farm in the city for three generations, but had fallen into poor condition when Mimo and Miranda purchased it in 2012. We talk about how Miranda and Mimo rehabilitated the property, and made the journey from startup to turning a profit while they financed the farm with income paycheck...
104: Mike Brownback of Spiral Path Farm Talks about Ethical Wholesale Buyers, Hillside Farming, Salad Mix Production, and the American Dream
February 02, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 123 MBMike Brownback farms at Spiral Path Farm in South-Central Pennsylvania with his wife, Terra, and sons Will and Lucas. Spiral Path farms over seventy acres on more than 300 acres of land that they own. Serving two farmers markets, and 2,000-member CSA, and a substantial wholesale business with Wegmans grocery store, they farm all of their acres organically, and have been certified organic since 1994. Mike shares the recent history of Spiral Path Farm and the return of his sons to the operat...
103: Todd Nichols of Nichols Farm and Orchard on Managing Production and Markets on 300 Acres
January 26, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 113 MBTodd Nichols is the head grower at Nichols Farm and Orchard in Marengo, Illinois, about 65 miles northwest of Chicago. Founded in 1977 by Todd’s parents, Nichols Farm currently produces about 260 acres of vegetables and forty acres of apples. Nichols Farm markets to some 200 restaurants, fifteen farmers markets each week, and a 450-member CSA. Todd digs into what a farm this size looks like, and the sorts of investments they’ve made in equipment and infrastructure to ensure that they can c...
102: Shiloh Avery and Jason Roehrig of Tumbling Shoals Farm on Planning for Success, Smaller Markets, and Using Employees to Make Time to Manage
January 19, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 126 MBShiloh Avery and Jason Roehrig own and operate Tumbling Shoals Farm in northwestern North Carolina. With three acres tilled and almost half an acre under plastic, they gross about $145,000 selling certified organic vegetables through a CSA, three farmers market, a cooperative CSA, and a few restaurants. Shiloh and Jason were very intentional about where they chose to start Tumbling Shoals Farm, and the smaller cities that they chose to market in. They share the factors behind locating in n...
101: Curtis Millsap of Millsap Farms on Family, Faith, Time Management, and Pizza
January 12, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 126 MBCurtis Millsap farms raises two acres of vegetables, with 22,000 square feet under plastic, at Millsap Farms, just outside of Springfield, Missouri. He and his wife, Sarah, make a living from the farm with the help of their ten kids, a full-time farm manager, and another employee. Curtis shares how his farm grew over the years – and then how it shrunk on its path to profitability and a more family- and faith-focused life, shedding most of its livestock and farmers markets in favor of produ...
100: Chris Blanchard on Lessons Learned from the Farmer to Farmer Podcast, Consulting, and His Own Farm
January 05, 2017 09:30 - 1 hour - 111 MBFor episode 100, several listeners requested that I either do an interview with myself, or get somebody to interview me. So I invited my good friend Liz Graznak to do the job – Liz was also the first guest on the podcast, so it seemed to me to have some nice symmetry. Liz reached out to many of the previous guests on the show to get their input on what to ask me, and we dig into what I’ve learned from interviewing over a hundred farmers since the show’s beginnings during a drive to a field...
099: Chris McGuire of Two Onion Farm on Weed Control, Irrigation, Apples, Labor, and Record-keeping on a Dedicated CSA Farm
December 29, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 112 MBChris McGuire and his wife, Juli, own and operate Two Onion Farm in Belmont, Wisconsin. With four acres of vegetables and ¾ of an acre of apples – all certified organic – Two Onion Farm is packing 300 CSA shares each week for delivery in Madison, Wisconsin, Dubuque, Iowa, and Galena, Illinois. Chris digs into the details of weed control without tractors on Two Onion Farm, with an emphasis on prevention and reducing the bank of weed seeds in the soil. We also explore details of the farm’s u...
098: Mike Nolan of Mountain Roots Produce on Growing Storage Crops in the High Desert and Staying Ahead of the Curve
December 22, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 107 MBMike Nolan raises about five acres of vegetables at Mountain Roots Produce in Mancos, Colorado. With a focus on storage crops, Mike has patched together a market in his rural marketplace that includes restaurants, grocery stores, schools, and CSA members in the Four Corners area of Colorado. Farming in Mancos for the last seven years, Mike has recently brought Mountain Roots into profitability, and no longer has to work off the farm to make ends meet. We dig into the details of Mike’s oper...
097: Eva Rehak and Rebekah Frazer Chiasson on Cooperative Marketing and Farm Families in New Brunswick
December 15, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 109 MBEva Rehak and Rebekah Frazer Chiasson are members of Coin Bio – that’s Organic Corner in English – a small marketing co-op at the Dieppe Farmers Market in Dieppe, New Brunswick. With a total of four farms, the Organic Corner co-op allows these farmers to show up at market with the greatest diversity of produce in southeastern New Brunswick. Eva and Rebekah share the details of how they make the co-op work, including how they decide who sells what and how they structure the finances to keep...
096: Diane Szukovathy from Jello Mold Farm on Taking Chances in the World of Flower Farming
December 08, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 120 MBDiane Szukovathy raises about 4.5 acres of cut flowers at Jello Mold Farm in Mount Vernon, Washington. Now in their eleventh year of selling flowers, Diane and Dennis Westphall have become cornerstones of the local flower movement in the Pacific Northwest. Diane cofounded the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market when she realized the need to expand her farm’s reach without putting more hours into marketing and distribution. We discuss the establishment of the cooperative and its journey to sel...
095: Michael Ableman of Foxglove Farm and SOLEfood on Urban and Rural Farming
December 01, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 115 MBMichael Ableman splits his time between his family’s Foxglove Farm on British Columbia’s Salt Spring Island and SOLEfood, an urban farm on the downtown east side of Vancouver, British Columbia. Michael has been farming full-time since 1976, starting as an orchardist and evolving into a wide range of vegetables, fruits, grains, dry beans, and livestock. An early pioneer in the urban agriculture movement, Michael has long focused on the creation of good jobs and production quantities of food. ...
094: Heather Lekx of Ignatius Farm on Employees, Interns, and Farming with Jesuits
November 24, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 126 MBHeather Lekx has managed Ignatius Farm since 2001, when she arrived to start a new CSA program at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre in Guelph, Ontario. She currently oversees the vegetable farm, an extensive community garden, and land management for a multitude of independent enterprises at the Centre’s farm, which has served as the well of sustenance for the Jesuit community in the region since 1913. Heather provides insights into the dynamics of farming with an institution, including how the CS...
093: John Middleton of Fazenda Boa Terra on Rapid Growth, Weed Control, and the Challenges of Becoming a Boss
November 17, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 106 MBJohn Middleton farms with his wife Lidia Dungue at Fazenda Boa Terra in Spring Green, Wisconsin. After years of working on other farms, and starting on an incubator program in Minnesota, John and Lidia started a vegetable farm on the farmland at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin estate. Three years into their tenure at Taliesin, they’re growing a little under ten acres of vegetables and grossing about ten thousand dollars per acre. John shares some of the details of getting started at Taliesin...
092: John Hendrickson of Stone Circle Farm on Choosing to Farm Part-Time
November 10, 2016 09:30 - 1 hour - 124 MBJohn Hendrickson raises two acres of vegetables and cover crops at Stone Circle Farm in Reeseville, Wisconsin. He also works for the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Integrated Agricultural Studies, where he has lead any number of interesting projects and where he organizes the Wisconsin School for Beginning Market Growers. This is not a story about how John makes hundreds of thousands of dollars on two acres. It is a about how John set out to grow a farm, and how and why he decided to...
091: Brooke Salvaggio and Daniel Heryer of Urbavore on Creating an Urban Farm and Farmstead
November 03, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 103 MBBrooke Salvaggio and Daniel Heryer own Urbavore, one of the nation’s largest urban farmsteads. With thirteen acres in the urban core of Kansas City, Missouri, Urbavore produces vegetables, berries, tree fruits, and laying hens on an energy-independent piece of land with a meth house just down the street. We dig into their mulch-based no-till production system (which doesn’t require much digging!), including the nuts and bolts of how they handle different crops, source appropriate materials...
090: Lucila De Alejandro of Suzie’s Farm on Saying Yes, Getting Smaller, and Getting Workers and Community to Invest in the Farm
October 27, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 136 MBLucila de Alejandro owns and operates Suzie’s Farm with her husband, Robin Taylor. Located three miles from the Pacific Ocean and three miles from the Mexican border, Suzie’s Farm got its start in 2004, and has provided fresh, organic produce to the San Diego area through a CSA, farmers markets, and sales to restaurants and grocers. As a 70-acre urban farm, Suzie’s Farm provides a rare blend of tractor-scale farming just minutes from the urban core, and Lucila and Robin leveraged their geo...
089: David Hambleton of Sisters Hill Farm on Keeping Things Simple and Making Systems for a Productive, Happy Farm
October 20, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 116 MBDavid Hambleton manages Sisters Hill Farm in Standfordville, New York. David says he has five acres in production, but it’s worth noting that with what seems like typical attention to the details, that’s five acres of ground actually growing vegetables – he figures he’s got another four acres in field roads and other grass areas around the farm. All of Sisters Hill’s produce is sold through a market-style CSA. Sister Hills’ CSA program has maintained an 80% retention rate by selling the fa...
Lily Schneider and Matt Mccue of Shooting Star CSA on Unusual Choices and Unusual Histories
October 13, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 120 MBLily Schneider and Matt Mccue raise fifteen acres of vegetables at Shooting Star CSA in Fairfield, California, just 35 miles from Berkeley on the edge of the Central Valley. Along with four employees, they provide vegetables for a 250-member CSA plus three farmers markets. Matt and Lily have a couple of unique twists on their CSA operation, making the unusual choice in their area to not operate year-round, as well as to focus on guiding members towards purchasing a full-season, rather than...
Simon Huntley of Small Farm Central on Farm Marketing
October 06, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 107 MBSimon Huntley is the founder and developer at Small Farm Central, a technology company focused on farming business success with a website builder designed for small farms, a CSA member management and sales solution, and more. Simon is also the author of the new book, Cultivating Customers. Small Farm Central grew out of Simon’s work with an expanding CSA program in western Colorado. Simon got into online marketing before e-commerce was cool, and definitely before its use was widespread in ...
Brian Bates of Bear Creek Organic Farm on Starting Fast, Debt, and Selling to Grocery Stores
September 29, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 132 MBBrian Bates is a first-generation farmer at Bear Creek Organic Farm in Petoskey, Michigan. He and his wife, Anne Morningstar, started farming in 2014, and have rapidly grown their business to anticipated 2016 sales of $180,000. With just an acre and a half of cultivated ground, Bear Creek makes most of its money from greenhouse and high tunnel crops, and Brian breaks this down for us. We get an in-depth look at the tools Brian uses to track wholesale and retail sales, and to track those ba...
Eric and Robbie McClam of City Roots on an Urban Father-Son Farming Partnership
September 22, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 131 MBEric McClam and his dad, Robbie, own City Roots in Columbia, South Carolina. With eight acres of vegetables, mushrooms, u-pick berries, flowers, bees, agritourism, vermicomposting, and several high tunnels, City Roots is seven years into its operation and grosses about $650,000 annually. We dig deeply into their operation and the relationship between Eric and Robbie, including how their different personalities have influenced the growth of the operation and the directions it has gone, as w...
Lydia Ryall of Cropthorne Farm on Farming, Family, and Employees
September 15, 2016 08:30 - 1 hour - 109 MBLydia Ryall raises fifteen acres of vegetables at Cropthorne Farm, located on a small farming island where the Frasier river meets the Pacific ocean, just twelve miles outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. $600,000 of produce is marketed through three farmers markets and a CSA, as well as through wholesale accounts and a farmstand on the property. A third-generation farmer (and maybe more), Lydia farms on a fifty-acre property owned by her family. In addition to her operation, family mem...